Citation Guide - How to Cite Your Sources: APA Style

Access the official APA Style Publication Manual at any of our 5 campus libraries.

As a general rule, use APA style in psychology, education, and other social sciences.

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Paper Format

• Student papers may include a Title Page and an Abstract in addition to the essay
• Include Page Headers and Numbers
• You may be instructed to include various levels of Headings
• Use 1-inch margins with a common font such as 12-pt Times New Roman or 11-pt Calibri
• Review APA Style's many Sample Papers for more guidance

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In-text citations should be used in any written material, such as an essay. You should cite when paraphrasing or directly quoting information from another source. An APA-style in-text citation includes the author's name and the year in which the work was published, either within the sentence or at the end of the sentence. Refer to the APA Style Manual In-Text guide for more help. 

Example:

Gitlin (2001) has argued that critics sometimes overestimate the influence of the media on modern life.

-or-

Researchers argue that critics sometimes overestimate the influence of the media on modern life (Gitlin, 2001).

"APA 7th Edition: The Basics of APA In-text Citations" by Scribbr on YouTube

Style Basics

• References should begin on a new page, the word References should be at the top of the first page and centered
• Reference entries should be listed in alphabetical order by the first author's last name (or title if no author) with hanging indentations

Reference list entries include four elements: author, date, title, and source.

• Author can be a person, group of people, or an organization. Use & for multiple authors. If there is no author, start the entry with the title.
• Date refers to the date of publication and is most commonly the year or an exact date (year, month, and day). Use (n.d.) for no date.
• Title can be either a work that stands alone (e.g. a book) or part of a greater whole (e.g. a journal article) and should always be in sentence case.
• Source indicates where readers can retrieve the cited work and could be a publisher or the title of a greater whole (e.g. a journal article and the journal name). 

Missing any of this information? Use the APA Style Website Missing Info guide for more help.

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ARTICLE FROM A DATABASE

Last name, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number), page numbers. DOI or permalink

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

WEB PAGE

Last name, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of webpage. Publisher (if different from author). URL

Pew Research Center. (2013, March 14). Modern parenthood: Roles of moms and dads converge as they balance work and family. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/03/14/modern-parenthood-roles-of-moms-and-dads-converge-as-they-balance-work-and-family/

Woodyatt, A. (2019, September 10). Daytime naps once or twice a week may be linked to a healthy heart, researchers say. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/10/health/nap-heart-health-wellness-intl-scli/index.html

YOUTUBE VIDEO

Username. (Year, Month Date). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. URL

Klusmanp. (2008, February 13). An engineer's guide to cats [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4

IMAGE OR GRAPHIC

Last name or username, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of the artwork [Format]. Title of the Website. URL

Gallup. (2012, December 50). In U.S., more cite obesity as most urgent health problem [Graphs]. https://news.gallup.com/poll/159083/cite-obesity-urgent-health-problem.aspx

Verch, M. (2019, January 23). Refined sugar and granulated sugar on white background [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/30478819@N08/46148146934

PERSONAL INTERVIEW

A personal interview is not considered recoverable data, so no reference is provided in the reference list. You may, however, cite the interview during your speech or within the text as personal communication.

(J. Smith, personal communication, August 15, 2009)